I am having trouble getting my children to eat their vegetables. Thanks to your Mommybeast’s social media posts, I am aware that you eat everything she hands you. What does she do that makes you so excited to eat the food you are given? I’ve tried threatening my kids with the veggie monster like my mother did, but it only seemed to make them laugh.

Sincerely, Vexed by Veggies

Dear Vexed by Veggies,

My sympathies to you, fellow Hominid Wrangler. It must be hard to have Miniature Humans turn down the food you so lovingly crafted for them. I suppose it is too late to skip the Miniature Humans and just adopt a herd of English bulldogs?! Such as shame seeing as how we eat whatever is handy.

Even if the item in question is a bug and not food.

Now, I’m a huge fan of veggies, but Mommybeast puts up quite a fuss over eating hers. I’ve had to get creative over the years as a way to encourage her to eat healthy enough to guarantee she out lives me. I suggest you start with the exotic green bean. They descend from Green Bean Land and make squeaky noises as they ride into your belly. They even do a little dance across the plate on the way to your mouth.

Mommybeast needs storylines and sound effects to eat her vegetables.

Mommybeast hates green beans but she adores them once they have been covered in a creamy mushroom sauce. Perhaps you’ve seen this can in your local grocery canned soup aisle? Heat up this sauce and pour it over the green beans – down the hatch they go! Mommybeast will even hum with happiness as she dips her fingers in the sauce.

She may actually be a Miniature Human trapped in a big people body.

Thanks to the sauce being mushroom based, it almost feels like a double veggie victory. For the other veggies, I recommend you deploy a cheese sauce or a ranch dip. One is warm, the other cold – use your discretion in testing which ones match the best. Then switch sauce and serve that combination. Miniature Humans always like the opposite of their Hominid Wrangler.

♥Lola♥

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Mushroom sauce with green beans? Sounds like a steak dinner 😋 Veggies are deemed totally acceptable in the Button house. With Alfie leading the way in the fruit department – he loves a good watermelon slice. Don’t ask LOL Thanks for being a brilliant #DreamTeam host and brightening up my Tuesday morning xx

Our mini human used to eat veggies no problem. Now that she’s learned the word no, she uses it consistently at the sight of them. We’ve been perfecting the art of sneaking them in. Cutting up steamed squash into the same shape as her diced peaches, steaming and pureeing broccoli to go into mac and cheese. We’re getting good at it and she’s staying healthy!
Thanks for sharing the advice!
#DreamTeam

Lola, we are lucky because our kinder eat many veggies. Now, they go through stages of love and hate, but overall we have very bright and colorful veggie meals. I will come to you when anything changes! Thanks! #dreamteam xo

Our kids love veggies so much so that my youngest daughter considered becoming a vegetarian but after one day without meat she was done – she was like a scavenger and ate up all the left over ribs that was in the fridge #dreamteam

One of the most useful tips I read somewhere, and seems to be working – is to just remove the drama. Stop saying “just try it” or negotiating half-portions. If the veggies aren’t eaten, just take them away and say nothing. Keep presenting them until they try when they think you’re not looking. It’s not 100% foolproof, but it’s working with mine.

That’s a great tactic! I ran a home daycare for 13 years and I never forced the kids to eat vegetables. I just tried to make them exciting, and I puréed them and slipped them into sauces whenever I could to make sure they got a serving, and they would eat them or not. Nine times out of 10, they would eat more than half of the vegetables I served in a given week.